Peter Jackson Changed The Schedule For The Hobbit To Accommodate Martin Freeman

In an interview with Vanity Fair (via Joblo), Martin Freeman revealed that director Peter Jackson changed the schedule of The Hobbit so that he could play Bilbo Baggins. At the time, Freeman’s schedule for BBC’s Sherlock was keeping him from doing it, which led to Jackson making the changes.

He said: “I remember going — along with half of Britain — on tape for it. And when I arrived in the casting room … there was a note from Guillermo del Toro, who at the time was slated to direct. The note was very nice, it said, ‘Martin, we want this to be you, so do your stuff, but just so you know, we think this is going to me you.’ That relaxed me a lot, so I was able to do my reading and then sort of forget about it. And then I got a call from [my agent] who said there’s been a change of plan. Peter Jackson has rearranged the schedule of The Hobbit around you, so that you can start The Hobbit, then go off and do Sherlock and then finish The Hobbit again. That was an amazing thing to hear, because talk about a vote of confidence. He could have had a lot of people doing Bilbo Baggins, and the fact that he had that much faith in me, that was astonishing really. And the fact that he could move a schedule as titanic as that was going to be and a production, which does not move quickly, was kind of amazing. And I felt like an extremely lucky person, and I’ll always love Peter for that.“